Gutter-shaped carrying trough

ABSTRACT

A light-weight gutter-shaped carrier for bottles to be conveyed through a sterilizer.

United States Patent 1 Santen he 3,710,926 51 Jan. 16, 1973 [54] CUTTER-SHAPED CARRYING TROUGH [75] Inventor: Salomon Santen, Amsterdam,

Netherlands [73] Assignee: Stork Amsterdam N.V., Sportlaan,

Amstelveen, Netherlands [22] Filed: Feb. 23, 1971 [21] App1.N0.: 118,114

[52] US. Cl ..198/l31 [51] Int. Cl ..'..B65g 15/00 [58] Field of Search ..198/131, 204; 134/131, 72, 134/73; 29/103 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,655,929 10/1953 Herold ..|34/m' Primary ExaminerEvon C. Blunk Assistant Examiner-H. S. Lane Attorney-Waters, Roditi, Schwartz & Nissen [57] ABSTRACT A light-weight gutter-shaped carrier for bottles to be conveyed through a sterilizer.

1 Claim, 1 Drawing Figure CUTTER-SHAPED CARRYING TROUGH BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to a gutter-shaped carrying trough for accommodating filled G.C.P. bottles, that is to say light weight bottles of the American type Glass Composite Package and for conveying these bottles in a position perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of symmetry of the trough along a curved track through a device for sterilizing or pasturizing the contents of the bottle. In designing carrying troughs, used in the conveyor of a continuous sterilizer, little attention has been paid so far to the problem how to realize a construction of these troughs which is as light and rigid as possible.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION The basic object of the present invention is to construct a trough in such a manner that with a small wallthickness and a moderate quality of the material, that is to say with the least possible quantity of the cheapest possible material, a rigid trough adapted for use in a great length, that is to say for a great capacity, can be obtained.

A further object of the invention is that the shape of the trough should prevent the top of the bottle from sliding towards and touching the bottom of the trough which may occur on passing through the curves of the loop-shaped path of the conveyor within a sterilizer. The invention also aims at preventing the closure of the bottle from contacting the bottom of the carrying trough so that neither the bottle-cap nor the imprint thereon can be damaged.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of the invention is realized by providing a gutter'or channel shaped carrying trough having a narrow part near its bottom in such a manner that the capsule on the mouth of the bottle does not contact the bottom, whilst two slightly inwards directed but outwards folded over edges are provided, on both sides of the open face of the trough.

Both the constriction near the bottom of the trough and the folded over edges on the open side cause an increase of the rigidity of the trough so that the wallthickness of the metal sheet can be very reduced.

The invention is hereinafter clarified with reference to the accompanying drawing showing a perspective view of one end of a carrying trough with a bottle disposed therein.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The depicted carrying trough l is gutter-shaped that is to say it has a substantially U section profile with a bottom 2 and side walls 3. The trough is in a conventional manner secured at both ends to a link of a conveyor chain (not represented). Both the bottom 2 and the side walls 3 of the trough are perforated, the perforations 4 serving to let the water and/or vapor through. Near the bottom 2 the trough shows a narrow part or constriction 5 which with respect to the standard dimensions of the likewise depicted G.C.P. bottle 6 with a closure 7 is dimensioned in such a manner that the bottle neck is held thereby before the closure 7 comes into contact with the bottom 2. The G.C.P. bottle has a very thin wall and a semi concave bottom in order to resist the internal pressure. Around the lower part of the bottle 6 is a cylindrical foot 8 with a flat bottom made of plastic or cardboard. A normal upright position of the bottle is ensured thereby.

Two slightly inwards directed but outwards folded over edges 10 are provided on the open side 9 of the trough, said edges serving forthree purposes. The slightly inwards directed shape will avoid any outward movement of the bottle 6 from the carrying trough 1,

especially in those areas of the sterilizer in which the links of the conveyor chain does not exceed a particular angular value. Consequently a chain wheel for the guidance in the lower curves of the loop-shaped path can be omitted, without the danger of the chain sagging into a V-shape. 7

Due to the invention it is possible to manufacture a carrying trough for 36 to 40 bottles and to construct same as light as possible and to provide a guarantee against any damage to the capsule 7 of the bottle 6, while the bottle is also in the best possible way prevented from floating away from the trough, during its immersion in the treating liquid.

What I claim is:

l. A perforated sheet steel gutter-shaped elongate carrying trough for accommodating a plurality of filled G.C.P. bottles and for conveying the bottles in a direction perpendicular to their longitudinal axes of 1 symmetry along a path consisting of vertical loops for sterilizing or pasteurizing the contents of the bottles, said trough comprising;

a pair of spaced longitudinally extending sidewalls; and a bottom wall interconnecting one end of said sidewalls so as to form an essentially U-shaped cross-section having a longitudinally extending open mouth extending along the other end of said side walls,

each of said side walls having a longitudinal inwardly bent wall portion proximate to said first end so as to form a reduced cross-section near the juncture with said bottom wall and providing a retaining surface for the neck of each bottle while concurrently inhibiting contact between the closure of the bottle and said bottom wall,

the mouth-forming end portion of each of said side walls being inwardly tapered toward each other so as to form a reduced width longitudinally extending aperture, and outwardly bent folded-over edge portions being formed along each of said side walls to provide a reinforcing stiffening structure on either side of the aperture. 

1. A perforated sheet steel gutter-shaped elongate carrying trough for accommodating a plurality of filled G.C.P. bottles and for conveying the bottles in a direction perpendicular to their longitudinal axes of symmetry along a path consisting of vertical loops for sterilizing or pasteurizing the contents of the bottles, said trough comprising; a pair of spaced longitudinally extending sidewalls; and a bottom wall interconnecting one end of said sidewalls so as to form an essentially U-shaped cross-section having a longitudinally extending open mouth extending along the other end of said side walls, each of said side walls having a longitudinal inwardly bent wall portion proximate to said first end so as to form a reduced cross-section near the juncture with said bottom wall and providing a retaining surface for the neck of each bottle while concurrently inhibiting contact between the closure of the bottle and said bottom wall, the mouth-forming end portion of each of said side walls being inwardly tapered toward each other so as to form a reduced width longitudinally extending aperture, and outwardly bent folded-over edge portions being formed along each of said side walls to provide a reinforcing stiffening structure on either side of the aperture. 